Agnes turned sharply when she heard the sound but saw no one. How come the door was open? She vividly remembered locking the door after she came in. Someone must have trailed her without her awareness. She moved to the doorpost, pushed her head out and looked at both sides but saw no one.
“Who was that?” Beatrice asked, immediately Agnes came back.
“It’s no one, it seems like I mistakenly left the door open.” Agnes lied. She wasn’t ready to be punished by her mistress. No matter where she was, her mistress could easily access her because they had a blood oath which she swore to remain loyal to her mistress until she died.
Also she gave her mistress the right or access to torture her soul, anytime her mistress found out she disobeyed or was not loyal to her.
Beatrice looked at Agnes for some seconds, not satisfied with the answer Agnes gave her. Beatrice searched for any glimpse of doubt on Agnes’s face, and when she couldn’t find any, she believed her.
“I need you to bring Tracy tomorrow before the gifting ceremony begins. Your job is to bring her to the entrance of the kingdom while I devise a means to take her blood from her without her suspecting us. It’s time to pay Sabastine a surprise visit.”
****
Daisy was the one who pulled Ariella out. Daisy saw when Ariella followed Agnes and quietly trailed along too. She also overheard everything the unknown woman told Agnes. The voice of the woman was strangely familiar, and she didn’t know why. Unfortunately, she couldn’t see the woman’s face because she only stood at the door entrance, and Agnes’s conversation with the woman was loud enough to be heard since the door was left open.
Daisy saw someone’s shadow coming out from the room and instantly knew it was Ariella’s. Ariella tripped and almost fell, but luckily, she caught her, although it was a little too late because Ariella already made a sound that attracted Agnes. Daisy quickly chanted a spell that made both of them invisible. She gently dragged Ariella away from Tracy’s doorstep.
Beatrice, being someone who was sensitive, also chanted her spell of forgetfulness and sent it to whosoever had heard her conversation with Agnes. The spell Beatrice sent didn’t get to them because the spell of invisibility shielded them.
“What should we do now, your majesty?” Daisy immediately asked and undid the spell when she was sure they were now in a safe place. However, before Ariella could even reply, the spell of forgetfulness Beatrice projected got to them, and they suddenly forgot all that had transpired in Tracy’s room.
“What are we doing here? We are supposed to preparing for the gifting day ceremony tomorrow. Come, let’s go to the room, so I can help out with picking your dress for tomorrow,” Daisy spoke with a look of confusion on her face as she looked around wondering what they were doing there.
****Later that night****
“I know you don’t like your sister,” Agnes said, and Tracy was who about to sleep became fully awake. Tracy sat up and looked at Agnes in astonishment. How did she know? Although Agnes was the one who told her the truth of her sister’s birth being the cause of their mother’s death, but she never fought or threatened her sister in Agnes’s presence since Agnes started staying at the palace, so how did she know she hated Ariella.
“I heard the resentment in your tone when you spoke at the dinning,” Agnes explained further, as if she sensed Tracy’s thought.
When Tracy heard what Agnes said, she began to spill how much she wanted to get rid of her sister and how much she hated her for always stealing the spotlight and how ready she was to sacrifice anything to get what she desired.
“I know of a woman who can help you get rid of her. She lives outside the kingdom. She is known to be a powerful enchantress and has never failed to grant the wishes of all those who went to her for help. Some time ago, she saved me from my evil stepmother and took care of me like I was her daughter,” Agnes skillfully mentioned her mistress to Tracy.
Tracy quickly thought about what Agnes had just told her. If that woman was powerful enough to grant the desires of all those who had ever gone to her for help, then, there was a high possibility that she’ll get her request granted but the thing she never wanted was the woman to kill her sister. Yes! Initially, she had always wanted Ariella dead but right now all she wanted was the woman to make Ariella a shadow of herself, and then turn the love and admiration Ariella got from people to her. She wanted Ariella to suffer in a slow and painful manner just as she did when Ariella stole all that was her’s from her.
“What price do I need to pay for what I desire?” Tracy inquired after much thought.
Meanwhile, at the cave, Beatrice watched the conversation going on between Tracy and Agnes and smiled in satisfaction. Things were going just as she planned, Tracy was coming to meet her tomorrow and she had to prepare.
Beatrice paused in her thoughts when she heard Tracy ask what price she was going to pay to get what she desired. Beatrice was bewildered at Tracy’s smartness. The girl was smart and rational.
Well, the price for what she wanted was her happiness, her blood, her family and finally, her birthright; the throne.
Sabastine was going to pay for what he did to her and his daughters will not be spared. No one who was loyal to him shall be spared. No one will ever be able to stop her, not even the prophet who happened to be Sabastine’s best friend will be strong enough to stop her from doing what she pleases. As a matter of fact, he will be among the first set of people she would kill when she gains access to the kingdom. Beatrice magically turned off the mirror and went to bed, happy and smiling at how terrible and painful her planned revenge would be.
***Inside the palace compound***
A loud knock was heard at the palace main gate, disturbing the serenity of the palace, and all the guards positioned themselves ready to pounce on whoever the intruder or intruders were.
The knock on the gate intensified when the unidentified individual knocking noticed no one opened the gate.
The Royal family all rushed down to see the cause of the noise and were met with the sight of all the guards on alert. The king ordered for the gate to be opened, and the prophet entered the palace like someone who was being chased.
King Sabastine looked at prophet, who was his best friend, with a surprised expression. He couldn’t help but panic. What was the prophet doing here at this ungodly hour? He hasn’t gotten over the news he received from the prophet the last time they met. It still bothered him up until now.
The prophet, who was breathing hard like someone who escaped from a ghost that haunted him, immediately composed himself when he noticed all eyes were fixed on him.
He slowly walked up to Ariella and stared at her intensely for about two minutes without saying a word. Sabastine, being a protective father, stepped in and shielded Ariella by hiding her behind him and the silence continued.
The prophet, after much silence, finally spoke,
“Tragedy has almost gained access into our kingdom! Many innocent blood shall flow, the kingdom shall lose it peace, and it cannot be stopped!”